The Eastsider ventures into Richmond's Iron Triangle in search of some found treasures with Mike Simpson and Derek Weisberg of Oakland's own Boontling Gallery.

Words and photos by Theo Konrad Auer with additional photos by Mike Simpson

A short while back I had the opportunity to go on a combo bombing run and junk finding expedition with my friends Mike Simpson and Derek Weisberg who run the excellent Boontling Gallery in Oakland. They dub these hunts, "Forty - Niner Runs," as they are modern treasure hunters in the rough urban environs. These runs have been a early morning weekend tradition for the pair for the last few years, having begun the ritual early on in their friendship. Mike sprays his iconocastic stencils, sometimes with friends like Adam 5100 and the Press Pause collective. Derek throws up sculptures, a rarity in street art. It's something I'd like see more. His sculptures reflect the tough skin folks learn to grow in such places as these. They have a sad and beautiful quality and are works of both deeply permeating subtlety and originality. The spot we hit is located deep in Richmond's "Iron Triangle" neighborhood, a area known to be one of the Bay Area's most violent places. They are many stories for the neighborhood's monitker, but the one I've heard the most that it is called so due to its bordering on three sides by commercial rail lines. Some of them are well used, and others are rusted - creating a creepy and oddly beautiful ambiance to the place. In the particular spot we went to, there is pretty much none of the painting over of graffiti pieces that you encounter commonly in the Bay Area. Some pieces aren't in perfect condition, but here this is due to weather aging and likely vandals. There is wonderful quality in that. Many pieces in the Bay Area don't last. Sometimes due to being painted over. Sometimes due to toys painting over other, better pieces. Sometimes gentrification plays a role. Spots such as this are unlikely to painted over anytime soon due to their location. I made a photo journal of our trip and interviewed Mike Simpson and Derek Weisberg about this abandoned place called "Helter Skelter"

Above and below, Mike Simpson's stencils in progress and the end result, as seen next to one of Derek Weisberg's sculpted heads.

The Eastsider: How did you find this spot?
Mike Simpson:We found Helter Skelter while walking the train tracks from D's(Derek Weisberg's)
studio. We came upon a hill with an imposing view of the abandoned complex of
brick buildings, and died in awe. A palace of abandoned industrial
factories. A place where one could walk around, hit-up, steal treasure to make our
art from without being disturbed by the cops.

The Eastsider: What makes this spot special or different from others you've hit
up?
Derek Weisberg: I think this is a pretty normal type of spot we hit;. Of course we
hit the streets when we go to the city and such, but we seem to be naturally drawn to areas of decay, industrialization, abandonment, etc. The train tracks are like a forgotten world, or a world that once was. I seem to find these places more interesting.

Mike Simpson: This spot is different because it is by far the largest. Most places
are cramped spots under bridges, smaller abandoned buildings, one cool one
was a half-burnt-down auto parts factory. At Helter Skelter,we could paint
on the roof, inside, on cars wherever. It was pretty much a big lawless
playground. With that said, it is also a dangerous spot. Of course
you were there when Derek almost got assaulted. We have run into migrant
workers who squat there, and various bums, one time we met a whore who
offered her services. I probably would have died form 10 different
STD's.

Above: A collapsed roof we carefully trekked across to see more burners and pieces thrown up. Near by this, there 's a crumbling sliver of decaying brick, on which longtime East Bay graf arist AMEND must have balanced on to throw up. It was just one of many piece's we saw, and not the best one - that said, it was impressive to see it in such a precarious place. Below: The Union Pacific rail roars by, carrying consumer goods south.

The Eastsider:You and Derek utilize a lot of found objects in your work. The effect this creates is interesting. You appropriate junk and remix it into art that is raw and quite interesting. What kind of stuff do you guys look for?
Describe some ways you've used such things as ingredients for your work?

Mike Simpson: We look for alot of objects with former uses that we can give new meaning to in our artwork. Such as wooden drawers, ornamental woodwork from furniture, metal handlles, gaskets, un-nameable metal industrial
objects. Derek uses alot of this for pedestals for his pieces and ornementation for his figures- ej. colanders and dresser pulls combined to make a helmet, or old bottles and picture frames for backround objects.

Derek Weisberg: I use a lot of old boxes, crates, drawers, barrels etc, as pedestals for my figures. I also like to look for old rusted metal pieces which I use sometimes as part of the figures decor, or outfit, i.e. helmets, hats,
crowns, armour. Also sometimes as elements that reference a setting or an environment; or objects inside that environment that the figure may or may not interact with. These objects often reference iconic and symbolic
images such as the sun, for example.

The Eastsider:What are some of the craziest things you've come across here?
Mike Simpson: Derek found this dope hundred year old piano leg that he used for a
pedestal, and some cool victorian grills. That big wooden 4 that Derek found for me goes up for one of my favorites. I also found some dope rubber stamps of the alphabet that I use all the time for "boontling style"
flier designs.
Derek Weisberg: Crazy homeless dudes, pools of some kind of liquid left over from the asphalt days, creepy old airjet winnebago things, that looked like there were going to have dead bodies in it, The whole place is totally
crazy, the list goes on and on.

Above: Helter Skelter must have had some sort of metal working equipment in it at one time. We imagined that the workers got bored and creative, making this tic tac toe game a monument to their lives of labor. Well...that...or this was the work of a very original street artist...though I suspect it is the former. Below: The Iron Triangle railroad tracks is the kind of place one could imagine bodies getting dropped and not being discovered for a long time. We found this dead dog there. He had been there so long he was practically mummified. Poor guy. He must of gotten run over by one of the trains passin by, probably Amtrak as they are the fastest...

The Eastsider: What are some the wierdest things that have happened here while
you and Derek were throwing up? I know some crackheads chased us today, but
this place holds even better stories than that I imagine. It really looks like something out
of a George Romero zombie movie...
Mike Simpson: I can't really think of anything really really wierd that happened
to us. The crackhead was up there on the scale. The train-track people that
we see generally keep to themselves. They live in abandoned structures,
or in little shacks built out of the same materials we make our art out of,
and they dress in whatever they find. The traintracks are kindof a lonely
place. We like it because of the deserted ambience- as opposed to the
chaotic city that surrounds the tracks. Its a lonely strip that runs
through the city that has its own post-apocalyptic character. We say
to ourselves that this is the way the urban landscape will look and feel
if a giant collapse does occur.

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Photo Journal:
On our walk through desolate landscapes that make up the Iron Triangle, we passed the BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) depot on the way to Helter Skelter:

Here are some of the cooler pieces and burners I saw at Helter Skelter. This is not by any means a comprehensive photo journal of the pieces seen there, but the end results of my best shots I took on this particular trip:

This graffiti reads, "Doomed to be a killer since I came out the nutsack - Ice Cube 1995".

Mike Simpson gets his paste and stencil on, with his own stencils and with some objects he found on our trip! Nice find:

Derek Weisberg glues up his sculptures to walls, precarious ledges, and other worthy surfaces:

Post Forty - Niner Hunt, we reconvened at Derek's nearby studio in Richmond to chill and shoot the dootie. I took some shots of Derek Weisberg's studio while there. Check out his work adorned with some of the many found treasures from his Forty - Niner Hunts, the kiln they were heated in, photo studies and last my favorite current piece of his(which is in - progress):

Mike Simpson sent me over these photos that were taken at Helter Skelter on a run a month previous to our visit,undertaken with Canadian art cooperative Press Pause. Mike collaborates with fellow artist THESIS, with the results seen after - then a group shot. They make for a good "bookend" to this photo journal:

We haven't been featuring many interviews as of late. Let's change that up as we check in with a few local San Francisco artists like Kevin Earl Taylor here whom we studio visited back in 2009 (PHOTOS & VIDEO). It's been awhile, Kevin...

If you like guns and boobs, head on over to the Shooting Gallery; just don't expect the work to be all cheap ploys and hot chicks. With Make Stuff by Peter Gronquist (Portland) in the main space and Morgan Slade's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in the project space, there is plenty spectacle to be had, but if you look just beyond it, you might actually get something out of the shows.

Fifty24SF opened Street Anatomy, a new solo show by Austrian artist Nychos a week ago last Friday night. He's been steadily filling our city with murals over the last year, with one downtown on Geary St. last summer, and new ones both in the Haight and in Oakland within the last few weeks, but it was really great to see his work up close and in such detail.

Congrats on our buddies at Needles and Pens on being open and rad for 11 years now. Mission Local did this little short video featuring Breezy giving a little heads up on what Needles and Pens is all about.

Matt Wagner recently emailed over some photos from The Hellion Gallery in Tokyo, who recently put together a show with AJ Fosik (Portland) called Beast From a Foreign Land. The gallery gave twelve of Fosik's sculptures to twelve Japanese artists (including Hiro Kurata who is currently showing in our group show Salt the Skies) to paint, burn, or build upon.

Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne played host to a huge group exhibition a couple of weeks back, with "Gold Blood, Magic Weirdos" Curated by Melbourne artist Sean Morris. Gold Blood brought together 25 talented painters, illustrators and comic artists from Australia, the US, Singapore, England, France and Spain - and marked the end of the Magic Weirdos trilogy, following shows in Perth in 2012 and London in 2013.

San Francisco based Fecal Pal Jeremy Fish opened his latest solo show Hunting Trophies at LA's Mark Moore Gallery last week to massive crowds and cabin walls lined with imagery pertaining to modern conquest and obsession.

Well, John Felix Arnold III is at it again. This time, he and Carolyn LeBourgios packed an entire show into the back of a Prius and drove across the country to install it at Superchief Gallery in NYC. I met with him last week as he told me about the trip over delicious burritos at Taqueria Cancun (which is right across the street from FFDG and serves what I think is the best burrito in the city) as the self proclaimed "Only overweight artist in the game" spilled all the details.

Ever Gold opened a new solo show by NYC based Henry Gunderson a couple Saturday nights ago and it was literally packed. So packed I couldn't actually see most of the art - but a big crowd doesn't seem like a problem. I got a good laugh at what I would call the 'cock climbing wall' as it was one of the few pieces I could see over the crowd. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and check it all out again, but I'm definitely going to as the paintings that I could get a peek at were really high quality and intruiguing. You should do the same.

The paintings in the show are each influenced by a musician, ranging from Freddy Mercury, to Madonna, to A Tribe Called Quest and they are so stylistically consistent with each musician's persona that they read as a cohesive body of work with incredible variation. If you told me they were each painted by a different person, I would not hesitate to believe you and it's really great to see a solo show with so much variety. The show is fun, poppy, very well done, and absolutely worth a look and maybe even a listen.

With rising rent in SF and knowing mostly other young artists without capitol, I desired a way to live rent free, have a space to do my craft, and get to see more of the world. Inspired by the many historical artists who have longed similar longings I discovered the beauty of artist residencies. Lilo runs Adhoc Collective in Vienna which not only has a fully equipped artists creative studio, but an indoor halfpipe, and private artist quarters. It was like a modern day castle or skate cathedral. It exists in almost a utopic state, totally free to those that apply and come with a real passion for both art and skateboarding

I just wanted to share with you a piece I recently finished which took me 4 years to complete. Titled "How To Lose Yourself Completely (The September Issue)", it consists of a copy of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine (the issue they made the documentary about) with all faces masked with a sharpie, and everything else entirely whited out. 840 pages of fun. -Bryan Schnelle

Jeremy Fish opens Hunting Trophies tonight, Saturday April 5th, at the Los Angeles based Mark Moore Gallery. The show features new work from Fish inside the "hunting lodge" where viewers climb inside the head of the hunter and explore the history of all the animals he's killed.

Beautiful piece entitled "The Albatross and the Shipping Container", Ink on Paper, Mounted to Panel, 47" Diameter, by San Francisco based Martin Machado now on display at FFDG. Stop in Saturday (1-6pm) to view the group show "Salt the Skies" now running through April 19th. 2277 Mission St. at 19th.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to quit my job, move out of my house, leave everything and travel again. So on August 21, 2013 I pushed a canoe packed full of gear into the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, along with four of my best friends. Exactly 100 days later, I arrived at a marina near the Gulf of Mexico in a sailboat.

I'm not sure how many people are lucky enough to have The San Francisco Giants 3 World Series trophies put on display at their work for the company's employees to enjoy during their lunch break, but that's what happened the other day at Deluxe. So great.

When works of art become commodities and nothing else, when every endeavor becomes “creative” and everybody “a creative,” then art sinks back to craft and artists back to artisans—a word that, in its adjectival form, at least, is newly popular again. Artisanal pickles, artisanal poems: what’s the difference, after all? So “art” itself may disappear: art as Art, that old high thing. Which—unless, like me, you think we need a vessel for our inner life—is nothing much to mourn.

Hard-working artisan, solitary genius, credentialed professional—the image of the artist has changed radically over the centuries. What if the latest model to emerge means the end of art as we have known it? --continue reading

"[Satire] is important because it brings out the flaws we all have and throws them up on the screen of another person," said Turner. “How they react sort of shows how important that really is.” Later, he added, "Charlie took a hit for everybody." -read on

NYC --- A new graffiti abatement program put forth by the police commissioner has beat cops carrying cans of spray paint to fill in and cover graffiti artists work in an effort to clean up the city --> Many cops are thinking it's a waste of resources, but we're waiting to see someone make a project of it. Maybe instructions for the cops on where to fill-in?

The NYPD is arming its cops with cans of spray paint and giving them art-class-style lessons to tackle the scourge of urban graffiti, The Post has learned.

Shootings are on the rise across the city, but the directive from Police Headquarters is to hunt down street art and cover it with black, red and white spray paint, sources said... READ ON

SAN FRANCISCO --- The Headlands Center for the Arts is preparing for their largest fundraiser of the year set to go down on June 4th at SOMArts here in the city. Art auction, food, drinks, live music, etc and all for helping to support a great institution up in the Marin Headlands. ~details

ABOUT HEADLANDSHeadlands Center for the Arts provides an unparalleled environment for the creative process and the development of new work and ideas. Through a range of programs for artists and the public, we offer opportunities for reflection, dialogue, and exchange that build understanding and appreciation for the role of art in society.

We haven't been featuring many interviews as of late. Let's change that up as we check in with a few local San Francisco artists like Kevin Earl Taylor here whom we studio visited back in 2009 (PHOTOS & VIDEO). It's been awhile, Kevin...

If you like guns and boobs, head on over to the Shooting Gallery; just don't expect the work to be all cheap ploys and hot chicks. With Make Stuff by Peter Gronquist (Portland) in the main space and Morgan Slade's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in the project space, there is plenty spectacle to be had, but if you look just beyond it, you might actually get something out of the shows.

Fifty24SF opened Street Anatomy, a new solo show by Austrian artist Nychos a week ago last Friday night. He's been steadily filling our city with murals over the last year, with one downtown on Geary St. last summer, and new ones both in the Haight and in Oakland within the last few weeks, but it was really great to see his work up close and in such detail.

Congrats on our buddies at Needles and Pens on being open and rad for 11 years now. Mission Local did this little short video featuring Breezy giving a little heads up on what Needles and Pens is all about.

Matt Wagner recently emailed over some photos from The Hellion Gallery in Tokyo, who recently put together a show with AJ Fosik (Portland) called Beast From a Foreign Land. The gallery gave twelve of Fosik's sculptures to twelve Japanese artists (including Hiro Kurata who is currently showing in our group show Salt the Skies) to paint, burn, or build upon.

Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne played host to a huge group exhibition a couple of weeks back, with "Gold Blood, Magic Weirdos" Curated by Melbourne artist Sean Morris. Gold Blood brought together 25 talented painters, illustrators and comic artists from Australia, the US, Singapore, England, France and Spain - and marked the end of the Magic Weirdos trilogy, following shows in Perth in 2012 and London in 2013.

San Francisco based Fecal Pal Jeremy Fish opened his latest solo show Hunting Trophies at LA's Mark Moore Gallery last week to massive crowds and cabin walls lined with imagery pertaining to modern conquest and obsession.

Well, John Felix Arnold III is at it again. This time, he and Carolyn LeBourgios packed an entire show into the back of a Prius and drove across the country to install it at Superchief Gallery in NYC. I met with him last week as he told me about the trip over delicious burritos at Taqueria Cancun (which is right across the street from FFDG and serves what I think is the best burrito in the city) as the self proclaimed "Only overweight artist in the game" spilled all the details.

Ever Gold opened a new solo show by NYC based Henry Gunderson a couple Saturday nights ago and it was literally packed. So packed I couldn't actually see most of the art - but a big crowd doesn't seem like a problem. I got a good laugh at what I would call the 'cock climbing wall' as it was one of the few pieces I could see over the crowd. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and check it all out again, but I'm definitely going to as the paintings that I could get a peek at were really high quality and intruiguing. You should do the same.

The paintings in the show are each influenced by a musician, ranging from Freddy Mercury, to Madonna, to A Tribe Called Quest and they are so stylistically consistent with each musician's persona that they read as a cohesive body of work with incredible variation. If you told me they were each painted by a different person, I would not hesitate to believe you and it's really great to see a solo show with so much variety. The show is fun, poppy, very well done, and absolutely worth a look and maybe even a listen.

With rising rent in SF and knowing mostly other young artists without capitol, I desired a way to live rent free, have a space to do my craft, and get to see more of the world. Inspired by the many historical artists who have longed similar longings I discovered the beauty of artist residencies. Lilo runs Adhoc Collective in Vienna which not only has a fully equipped artists creative studio, but an indoor halfpipe, and private artist quarters. It was like a modern day castle or skate cathedral. It exists in almost a utopic state, totally free to those that apply and come with a real passion for both art and skateboarding

I just wanted to share with you a piece I recently finished which took me 4 years to complete. Titled "How To Lose Yourself Completely (The September Issue)", it consists of a copy of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine (the issue they made the documentary about) with all faces masked with a sharpie, and everything else entirely whited out. 840 pages of fun. -Bryan Schnelle

Jeremy Fish opens Hunting Trophies tonight, Saturday April 5th, at the Los Angeles based Mark Moore Gallery. The show features new work from Fish inside the "hunting lodge" where viewers climb inside the head of the hunter and explore the history of all the animals he's killed.

Beautiful piece entitled "The Albatross and the Shipping Container", Ink on Paper, Mounted to Panel, 47" Diameter, by San Francisco based Martin Machado now on display at FFDG. Stop in Saturday (1-6pm) to view the group show "Salt the Skies" now running through April 19th. 2277 Mission St. at 19th.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to quit my job, move out of my house, leave everything and travel again. So on August 21, 2013 I pushed a canoe packed full of gear into the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, along with four of my best friends. Exactly 100 days later, I arrived at a marina near the Gulf of Mexico in a sailboat.

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